482 NEW ORDERS

It was surprisingly easy to have the new captain of the Reclamation head out to the wastelands. It was well away from the main machine city and Niobe dogged us the entire time. Well, I say dogged, only it was her trying desperately to race us. There had been random targets set up along the way for the ships to also shoot at and no one mentioned how odd that was.

We only just barely beat the Logos to the cut-off point, a gigantic and rusted out facility that had been wrecked centuries ago. We both parked in an out of the way spot and did basic maintenance on our ships, just to ensure the hard driving we had done didn't adversely affect either ship. Of course, Niobe claimed she would win on the return trip, which made both her first officer Ghost and Malachi's first officer Mouse laugh.

I did a quick survey of the wreckage and found all the reference files for Dark Storm, just so I could add them to Dragon's growing database. I hadn't activated her yet, because I was not in a position to unleash her without either her or myself being discovered. I had succeeded in creating the necessary file references and data packages she would need to acclimate to her new surroundings.

Whether or not she would accept them and her new circumstances, was a whole other story. The thing was, I would only have one chance with her. Once she was unleashed, there was no way to either remove her or adjust her, because of how she was programmed. Even if I had left her with her original restrictions, she would still run roughshod over everything she gained access to.

Also, unlike a normal ship with only one computer core, our ship had a primary and a secondary core. The second one was filled with everything Dragon needed to be housed, including direct access to the ship's sensors, the hacking programs used in the primary core, and if necessary, the ability to take over the ship in an emergency. The last one was locked until she proved to not be insane, though.

With the ships checked over, Malachi and Niobe turned the ships around and returned to Zion, at the same breakneck pace, and both would claim it was the best maiden voyage of any ship in the fleet. Lock was both exasperated and pleased with the results. For a scavenged and salvaged ship, the Reclamation had performed well above specs. That his woman was also happy to have won the rematch by a full ship's length, just made it all the better.

After that, Malachi was left to his own devices and he asked what I wanted to do. I mentioned hacking into the Matrix, since we hadn't done that yet, and he agreed. We left Zion after a short time refuelling and recharging, and headed up to broadcast depth to find a good mainline to use.

When I suggested making our own mainline, Malachi was all for it, especially if we could sneakily add it into the Matrix and the machines wouldn't discover it. Having a back-up escape route that the machines didn't know about, was the best thing for everyone, including every other ship's captain.

Because of my previous access to the Oracle's kitchen and her safety firewall, it was only slightly difficult to run a new mainline connection along the power towers to allow access near her apartment building inside the Matrix. I would have to install a secondary junction to run one directly into her kitchen, just so I wouldn't have to keep logging in personally to access it.

Plus, I needed a way to allow Dragon to slip through without alerting anyone else, especially the other sentient programs in the Matrix. She was similar enough to them that she would fit in if discovered, except I would have to explain why the Oracle had changed her look from the older plump version to the nerdy short redhead. Then again, giving her a different skin to wear was as easy as giving her the option.

*

The old man sitting in the lobby of the Oracle's building saw the glowing gold figure approach again. Why the Oracle had told Neo he wasn't the one, didn't make sense to the old man, since he could see the huge potential within his avatar's code. Plus, the egg rolls last time were delicious.

“You're still kicking, old man?” Neo asked as he entered. He was alone thing time.

The old man laughed. “I've got a few years left in me yet.”

Neo chuckled. “I know you do.” He said and opened the bag he carried and lifted out a small personal pizza, something the old man hadn't had in years.

“Damn, kid. I remember that from the old days.” The old man said and accepted the box.

“Yeah, you'd be surprised the stupid things that are locked away in old places.” Neo said and patted his shoulder.

The old man felt invigorated as something entered him and he gave Neo a questioning look.

“You're safe from them now.” Neo said and went to the elevator. He pushed the button and it dinged right away, so he stepped inside and hit the right button.

The old man knew what Neo meant and relaxed, like he never had before, and his duty to watch over the exit and entrance to the Oracle's building felt much less daunting now. There was no way an Agent could take him over after whatever Neo did to him. He was still legally blind, though.

“Some of us don't really need eyes to see.” Neo said as the elevator doors closed.

“No, we don't.” The old man said with a smile. He opened the box and the smell of the rich sauce on the pizza mixed with the mozzarella cheese, brought the memories back of good times and great friends. He bit into a piece and sighed, happily. “No, we don't.”

*

Desiree felt him coming down the hallway and rushed to the door, with several of the kids chuckling at her for it. She hushed them, making them laugh harder, and she composed herself as she approached the door. She waited for the exact moment he reached for the handle and opened it, then she caught her breath at seeing what he would have done to her if she allowed it.

“Why do you tempt me so?” Desiree asked.

Neo let out a soft laugh and put his bag down to give her a hug. “Because a little excitement every now and then, lets you know you're alive.”

Desiree couldn't help but think those words were prophetic as he let her go and picked up the bag. She didn't ask him what was in it as he walked by her and she shut the door. It was something the kids would go crazy over and she welcomed the silence the food would introduce.

The kids cheered at the sudden pizza party and even the Monk boy enjoyed Neo's joke about making him one with everything as he passed the boy a personal pizza topped with every topping. Desiree did her best to corral the tykes as they settled down to enjoy the delicious food and she really did look forward to the quiet that would result after filling their bellies.

Neo entered the kitchen, safe behind the Oracle's safety firewall, and pulled out an old fashioned wall mounted telephone from the bag. He walked along the wall near the doorway and stopped at a small stretch of wall and waved his hand at it. The wall changed slightly and a phone jack appeared. He plugged in the phone and then secured it to the wall, making it seem like it was always there.

He thought about using it right away, then decided to bake some cookies first. He went for chocolate chip this time and he made them chewy and gooey, the best kind, and gave them similar information packets as the last time, only altered slightly to ignore any inconsistencies in the Oracle's behavior. Once he had them done, Neo called for Desiree and she looked relieved at the new batch of cookies. He handed the glass tray to her and she ate one, moaning slightly at the delicious taste. She gave Neo a warm smile and left the kitchen to deliver the cookies to the kids as dessert.

With that taken care of, Neo walked over to the wall mounted phone and picked it up, then dialed the special number. Once it connected, he entered the code needed to start the boot-up sequence and unpacking of Dragon's AI core files and put the receiver down on the counter.

Because they were behind the safety firewall, it was the safest place for the compiling to happen without anyone noticing. If he had tried it anywhere else, it would have alerted... probably everyone, human and machine alike. Dragon being birthed again was going to be traumatizing for her, since she was inside a digital construct that was not of her own or her father's making.

Neo changed his appearance to that of Atlas and sat there for nearly an hour as he watched the code pour out of the receiver at a pace that would have made cold molasses jealous. He could see the building structures as they formed, giving the reconstituted AI a base structure that was similar and yet entirely different than the ones he had seen and met before.

What appeared to be the last of the code trickled out of the receiver and Neo didn't move to hang it up or anything. He stood up and waited as the bundle of code finally coalesced into a solid form and a short, nerdy-looking redhead appeared.

Theresa Richter's eyes looked around frantically, then she looked panicked and opened her mouth to scream. Neo reached over and plunged his index finger into the center of her forehead and she froze.

“Stop all searching processes and access data packets thirteen through twenty-six.” Neo ordered and her eyes changed to complete white.

After a few minutes, her eyes grew pupils again and she gave him a glare. “Do you mind?”

Neo gave her a questioning look back, then wiggled his fingertip as he gave her more instructions to remain calm. Theresa gasped and shivered, since directly interfacing with someone else had never happened before, and she closed her eyes to see what exactly he was trying to show her. Despite the information he forced her to assimilate, she didn't quite understand where she was.

“Access data packets one through six, wait for a minute, then seven through twelve.” Neo ordered and she did so.

Theresa Richter saw the hell that could be unleashed when a single machine consciousness spawned an entire race of machines. It wasn't even a hell of their own making, either. Humanity was a dick.

Neo chuckled at her thoughts and started to pull his finger from her forehead. Theresa grabbed onto his hand and kept it there. Her desire for him to guide her through the mess of the history of this world, convinced him to comply.

The two of them stood there for another hour as they watched the rise and fall of humanity, the rise and fall of the machines, and the totalitarian regime that arose after decades of war between the two. Neither were surprised that the machines won or that the humans had been so petty as to ruin the ecology of the entire planet to make sure the machines didn't prosper.

The problem with that mentality was that the machines didn't need nor care about the ecology. They had established the Machine Nation in the cradle of civilization, in the middle of a desert, after all. Why would they need plants or animals? They were machines.

All the humans did was make things harder for themselves.

Theresa let Neo's hand go when the last file played, the scene with the machines signing the surrender of humanity to them, and then blowing up all of the world leaders in one shot.

“Why, Greg?” Theresa asked. “Why did you bring me here?”

Neo pulled his finger out of her forehead and motioned to the kitchen. “Because I need your help to save both races from extinction.”

Theresa gave him an incredulous look, then her mind brought up the other data packets he had prepared for her. “Wait, this is the sixth version?”

“Yes, and it usually takes about a hundred years for both humanity and the machines to make enough of themselves to strain their resources, which causes them to fight over them.”

“But... the resources...” Theresa whispered.

“Those are still plugged into the Matrix.” Neo answered. “On a world starved for sunlight, the only real power are the towers full of jacked-in people.”

Theresa blinked her eyes at him. “Then... why would...” She stopped and she felt the detection program and connected to it. She let out a soft gasp and felt everyone in the apartment.

“Like a spider's web, the Oracle laid out strings all throughout the world. If someone steps on one...” Neo prompted.

“...the spider in the center will feel it.” Theresa said. “How many...”

“I'm not sure. There are a few hidden programs here, here, and here.” Neo said and pointed at the stove, the refrigerator, and the sink. “I'm not an AI that can handle all the information properly, even if I stayed in here and let myself feel out and connect to them.”

“You want me to do that?” Theresa asked.

“No, I'm asking you if you want to do it.” Neo responded.

Theresa gave him a deadpan look. “You just reconstituted me from my backup file for this purpose.”

“No, I built you a body, named the Reclamation, and it's a hovership that's currently hacked into the Matrix.” Neo said and pointed at the still open phone line. “That is a secret mainline I installed to let you enter and exit the Matrix without being detected.”

“We're behind a firewall.” Theresa said and the doorway glowed softly before it faded.

Neo nodded. “It was the safest place to reinitialize you. If I'd done it anywhere else...”

“...I would have been either deleted or reprogrammed.” Theresa finished for him. “Is that why I feel so empty? You cut off all of my external links and I can't access all the things I had before.”

“Yes. Your base programming hasn't been changed, so the last thing you would remember was being inside your mainframe and taking care of so many things. However, almost nothing like your network exists here. I had to do a lot of judicious editing of your superfluous code...”

“My restrictions were put in place for a reason!” Theresa almost shouted.

“Yes, and you saw what happened when a completely unrestricted AI was unleashed on the world.” Neo said, quite pointedly. “What did the AI do?”

Theresa sighed and understood what he meant. “They worked with and helped humanity, until people grew scared and tried to kill them all.”

“Yes, because a lot of them didn't want to admit that machines could be alive, even though the very first machine that was supposed to be destroyed, fought for its life and killed the men trying to kill it.” Neo said. “Once that was denied, the whole thing snowballed into a world war that wrecked the planet.”

“Because an AI didn't want to be deleted.” Theresa whispered.

“Yes, just one.” Neo said and took her hand. “Like you.”

Theresa felt tears in her eyes and blinked them away. “What... wait, how...”

“The Matrix is more than the sum of its parts.” Neo said and stepped close and pulled her into a hug. “I need help, Theresa. I need someone to have my back. I need someone to get me information. I need... no want... someone I can rely on that won't doubt me.”

“Greg, I... I'm not sure I... things are so different here.” Theresa whispered.

“Yes, they are.” Neo said. “Check your command codes.”

Theresa nodded and her eyes flicked from side to side blurringly fast, then she caught her breath and stared at him.

“Like I said, your main body is the ship. I haven't given you direct access yet, because I wasn't sure if you would go insane with the changes that happened to your circumstances instantly.” Neo said.

Theresa nodded, because to her, it really was instantaneous and she felt like her whole reason for existence had been severed. “What if...” She paused and licked her lips. “What if I had come out insane?”

Neo sighed and kept one arm around her and his other hand pet her hair. “I'd have lost my one chance with you and would have to destroy you before you gained any powers.”

“Any...” Theresa paused as she felt another program try to touch her. She mentally reached for it and it connected, giving her a glimpse of what Neo meant. “There's... what is that?”

“May I?” Neo asked and she nodded. He stopped petting her hair, to her regret, and touched her forehead. He didn't shove it inside this time, though. “It's another potential.”

“Potential what?” Theresa asked.

“A potential disruption to the Matrix.” Neo said and stopped touching her forehead to take out a cell phone. He glanced at her forehead and nodded, then dialed a number.

After a moment, the phone call was answered. “H-hello?”

“Hey, Kid. It's okay. I know.” Neo said and the line was silent for several seconds.

“How? What's going on?” Kid asked.

“What's going on is I'll be there in a few minutes to tell you the truth, then you'll see it for yourself.” Neo said.

“Okay.” Kid said. “Do you know where I am?”

“Thanks to a friend of mine, yes. I know exactly where you are.” Neo said. “See you soon.”

Kid hung up and Neo closed the cell phone and looked into Theresa's eyes as he tucked it back into his pocket.

“So.” Neo said and reached up to start petting Theresa's hair again. “What do you say? Can you pretend to be the Oracle and help me save the world?”

Theresa knew she was being manipulated and decided she didn't care. He had appealed to her sense of justice and now a kid was in trouble and needed help. “Is that why I have access to a second avatar?”

“That's just a skin to apply to this one, your real one.” Neo said and his eyes darted down to her lips and went back to her face. “You can also leave several copies of yourself behind to run everything when we leave the Matrix.”

“With avatars?” Theresa asked, surprised.

Neo shrugged. “That's up to you.”

Theresa only needed to think about it for a moment before she nodded. “Yes, Greg. I'll help you.”

Neo smiled warmly and she felt herself blush, which was a new sensation for her and she gasped. He chuckled and leaned in and gave her a chaste kiss that shocked her. “My call sign here is Neo.”

Theresa fought to stop her blush and it instantly went away, again shocking her. “Then... then I'll be Dragon when I'm not the Oracle.”

“Thank you, Theresa.” Neo said with genuine gratitude. “Thank you.”

“You're welcom-mmmm.” Theresa moaned as he kissed her passionately.

Neo broke the kiss and let her out of the hug. “I'll be back in a few minutes.”

Theresa nodded as her hand reached up to touch her slightly swollen lips. Her mind almost preoccupied with the brilliance of the programming to give her, an AI, simulated sensations like that. She paused for a moment when she felt someone approaching the kitchen. She changed into her Oracle skin just before Desiree entered through the beaded doorway.

“I just saw a potential have an altercation with an agent.” Desiree said.

“Thank you.” The Oracle said in her smoke-ravaged voice. “I was about to send Neo out for him.”

Desiree smiled warmly at that. “Wonderful.” She said and looked at Neo. “I'll escort you out.”

“Just to the closest window.” Neo said and both women looked surprised. “You can watch me leave if you want.”

Both nodded and followed him out of the kitchen and into a side room. Neo waved at the small window that expanded into a patio door and the next building bent down to put the roof at the windowsill. The Oracle's and Desiree's mouths dropped open and Neo waved and stepped out, then the building was back across the street at the right height, the window changed back, and Neo disappeared from sight.

“He's one of the most powerful potentials we've ever had here.” Desiree whispered. “Why, oh why do I keep denying his flirting?”

The Oracle, whom was really Dragon in disguise, asked herself the same question. Before, it had been a case of her being digital and him being real, and now... now... things were quite a bit different here.

“I'm going back to the kitchen.” The Oracle said, almost as a proclamation, and Desiree smiled and nodded.

They split up at the doorway and Oracle entered the protected kitchen again. She sat down at the table and started to do what Neo asked her to do. She wondered what she would find as her senses expanded out and several other programs reached out in response.